Question

Posted by: Lee | 2011/07/29

Daughter and Me

Dear DocI am steadily losing weight through exercising and a healthy attitude to food and snacks. I eat evertything I want (except all wheat and processed foods due to Gilbert''s syndrome and IBS - diagnosed). My waist has gone from 121 cm to 94 and it feels good to button up jackets and zip jeans which havent fitted for years!My daughter is 12 and very tall but is gaining weight in her thighs and buttocks. I have been taking her and my son on a walk/run once a week as they play sport the rest of the week. I also encourage her to use the stepper for 15 minutes 2X a week but dont want to make her too aware of gaining weight. I dont want to curb her eating too much either. She eats all and lots of fruit and veg and loves beans and lentils. She drinks soya milk and eats yoghurt too. She does however also like chocs and chips but not more so than other children. Why then is she gaining weight at a rapid pace? Oh, she does eat about 6 slices of bread + cereal (wheetbix, muesli during the week and luxury cereals over weekends).I am not an obvious dieter as I dont want to give her a complex.We eat some fish and she likes eggs but can I supplemement with Omega 3? Would this benefit both of us? I am not a pill-popper but am wondering?

Our expert says:

Dear Lee
I am pleased for your sake that you are losing weight and cm - well done! It is difficult to judge if your daughter is overweight or not, or if she is just going through the typical growth spurt that young girls experience round the age of 12 years. The fact that her thighs and buttocks are getting bigger may be due to an inherited tendency, which is now developing due to puberty. Do other women in the family tend to have large thighs and buttocks? The so-called female fat depots are the breasts, hips, thighs and buttocks. Is she overweight in general or only in these 2 areas? I would suggest that you have your daughter's weight and food intake assessed by a registered dietitian (visit the Association for Dietetics in SA Website at: www.adsa.org.za and click on "Find a Dietitian" to find a dietitian in your area). It is vital that a dietitian helps her with an age-appropriate diet if she is overweight, because she may require a slimming diet, but as a healthy and very active teenager, she also needs plenty of healthy foods to ensure that she continues to grow and develop normally. You can certainly use omega-3 supplements (Salmon oil capsules) for the entire family as most people on a western diet are deficient in omega-3 and taking such supplements is highly beneficial to health.
Please have your lassie assessed by a dietitian as soon as possible.
Best regards
DietDoc

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Our users say:

Posted by: DietDoc | 2011/07/29

Dear Lee
I am pleased for your sake that you are losing weight and cm - well done! It is difficult to judge if your daughter is overweight or not, or if she is just going through the typical growth spurt that young girls experience round the age of 12 years. The fact that her thighs and buttocks are getting bigger may be due to an inherited tendency, which is now developing due to puberty. Do other women in the family tend to have large thighs and buttocks? The so-called female fat depots are the breasts, hips, thighs and buttocks. Is she overweight in general or only in these 2 areas? I would suggest that you have your daughter's weight and food intake assessed by a registered dietitian (visit the Association for Dietetics in SA Website at: www.adsa.org.za and click on "Find a Dietitian" to find a dietitian in your area). It is vital that a dietitian helps her with an age-appropriate diet if she is overweight, because she may require a slimming diet, but as a healthy and very active teenager, she also needs plenty of healthy foods to ensure that she continues to grow and develop normally. You can certainly use omega-3 supplements (Salmon oil capsules) for the entire family as most people on a western diet are deficient in omega-3 and taking such supplements is highly beneficial to health.
Please have your lassie assessed by a dietitian as soon as possible.
Best regards
DietDoc

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